The Measure of Industry

Chapter 4 turns to the ways in which poets engaged with industrial cultures. It argues against a persistent narrative that Victorian Scottish writers ignored industrial change and developments, and shows that in relation to working-class writers, this is not the case. The first subsection studies poetic representations of industry in Lanarkshire, especially the heavily industrialized towns of Coatbridge and Airdrie. The second remains in the Glasgow/Lanarkshire area, but concentrates on miner-poets and the ways in which they discussed their work, with particular attention to poet David Wingate. The final section considers form and rhythm in industrial poetics, using Scottish railway poets Alexander Anderson and William Aitken as examples of the incorporation of industrial rhythms into poetry.